WACO, Texas – LJ Cryer scored 15 points against his former team, including six free throws in overtime, as second-ranked and Big 12-leading Houston beat Baylor 82-76 on Saturday.
The Cougars (24-3, 11-3 Big 12) blew a 16-point halftime lead and thought they had won the game on a long 3-pointer by Jamal Shead to end regulation before replay showed the ball was still in his hands. when time was up.
Cryer's two free throws with 3:06 left in overtime put Houston back in front, and he added four more after that.
Emanuel Sharp scored 18 points to lead the Cougars to their fifth straight victory and 10th in 11 games. J'Wan Roberts had 17 points and eight rebounds, while Shead had 12 points and 10 assists.
Ja'Kobe Walter scored a game-high 23 points for Baylor (19-8, 8-6), while RayJ Dennis scored 21. Jalen Bridges had 17 points and 13 rebounds, and Jayden Nunn scored 11 points.
The Bears trailed the entire game and didn't tie the score until 7-foot freshman Yves Missi made a layup while being fouled with 4.4 seconds left in regulation to make it 69. -69. Roberts grabbed the rebound from Missi's missed free throw and it took a while for Shead to finish the game without overtime.
Baylor opened the second half on a 12-0 run, while Houston missed its first eight shots, a drastic change from the first half. Bridges scored 14 of his 17 points in the second half, including nine straight points for the Bears in the final five and a half minutes of regulation.
The Cougars led 41-25 at halftime, scoring 13 points off 11 Baylor turnovers, while making 10 of 11 shots.
Roberts started that streak with a pass from under the basket to Emanuel Sharp on the right wing for a three-pointer with 14:26 left in the first half to make it 9-3 and start that streak of hot shots, and the forward 6-foot-7 assisted on the next basket. When Roberts made a jumper with 7:57 left, the Cougars had their largest lead at 27-10.
It was their first meeting as Big 12 foes, and their first since the Final Four three years ago, when Baylor beat Houston in a semifinal game en route to winning its first national championship. Cryer was then with the Bears, playing 20 games as a freshman that season and 70 overall over the past three seasons before transferring to Houston.
Cryer was booed every time he had the ball from the start, and fans applauded his missed 3-pointer on Houston's first shot of the game.
UNTIL NEXT TIME
Houston will be at home Tuesday night against Cincinnati.
Baylor travels about 90 miles north to play at TCU, which won 105-102 in triple overtime on Jan. 27 to become the first and only opposing team to win at Foster Pavilion.
